Why Northam should not quit

Do. Not. Resign. For the good of the nation, and as a teachable moment for the younger generations raised in the Era of Intolerance, embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam should stick to his guns by not resigning.

To his credit, Mr. Northam has, as of this writing, not caved to the mounting pressure. Despite making the situation worse by changing his story, the governor has nonetheless stood his ground. But that is not enough. He needs to go on the offensive and articulate his rationale for remaining in office. If he does, he will have demonstrated that the quest for “total purity” – as dictated by the overly pious, selectively-offended-by-everything social media crowd – is an abomination.

The firestorm erupted after a picture emerged from Mr. Northam’s medical school yearbook page showing two people at a party. One was wearing blackface, and the other was dressed in KKK garb – one of whom was allegedly Northam. At first, the governor admitted he was one of them, and apologized. Days later, he did an about-face, claiming that it might not be him after all.

For this column’s purposes, we will assume that the governor is, in fact, one of those in the photo. Here’s why he should not resign:

Anytime the political establishment – especially of both parties – piles on in “demanding” something, taking the opposite path is usually the better choice. Elected officials clamoring for one of their own to “step down” is rarely done for the right reasons, but instead as a calculated move driven by political expediency.

It’s time for someone to stand up and make clear distinctions between actions of today and those from decades ago. But that’s not happening. Instead, we are seeking – demanding – absolute perfection in people, especially elected officials, that is impossible to attain. Everyone has “something” in the past that could derail careers, rip families apart and brand them a pariah.

Instead of calling what Mr. Northam did a third-of-a-century ago “unforgivable,” as he did, the president should take the opposite tack.

Additionally, he could take the true moral high ground by stating that, while the Right would certainly benefit by helping facilitate the downfall of a liberal Democratic governor from a key swing state, the more responsible course would be advocating civility and second-chances. That message, more than any other, would bring swarms of the Great American Middle into the Republican fold.

Is it reasonable to extrapolate that a picture from 34 years ago – ill-advised and clearly racist then – makes someone a racist today? Of course not. Mr. Northam was obviously in a “young and stupid” stage, as every single person, in one way or another, is at that age. That said, it was a mistake, cut and dried, and there’s no getting around that. But the governor deserves the benefit of the doubt that, in the intervening decades, he realized that wearing such a costume was out-of-line, and that his empathy toward those who would be rightfully offended has grown exponentially. He apologized, and should be taken at his word. If the political class were adults, their response would have been, “Apology accepted. A valuable lesson was learned. And now, back to work.”

But instead, it’s been a modern-day mob.

Rather than demonizing Mr. Northam – a man, for the record, with whom this author disagrees on virtually every issue, especially his recent abortion comments, which could be characterized as advocating infanticide – we should be asking the most basic question: Would he wear such a costume today? If the answer is no, which clearly it is, then why is anyone still demanding his resignation?

Where does the intolerance end? Should we strip George Washington’s name from every city and monument since he was a slave owner? Should we discredit the lives of late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd and Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, since both were former Klansmen? And should we demonize LBJ, despite his monumental civil rights accomplishments, since, by anyone’s definition, he was unabashedly bigoted? Enough is enough.

Humans are, by definition, flawed. But we also have the unique ability to apologize, forgive, and learn from mistakes – imparting that wisdom on future generations.

No lesson could be more important, particularly since we all live in glass houses.